Thursday, May 24, 2012

HfC day 24 - off topic

I didn't fancy writing about today's prompt but instead thought it might be worth sharing something that I heard yesterday on Radio 4's excellent programme All in the Mind. They reported on a study that has used those 3D body scanners (more commonly seen in airport security) as a tool for overcoming body image distortion in patients with EDs. It sounded like a potentially fruitful area for further research and a big advance in previous ideas for challenging distorted body image. For a while, video diaries were used in the unit where I was a patient but I found those to be distressing (standing in your underwear looking at a life size version of yourself projected in front of you). Some friends did gain some enlightenment from it, becoming aware that their bodies looked underweight. However, I think I was in a position where I hated seeing myself and hated standing in a room in my underwear with 2 or 3 fully dressed therapists so much that the size perception thing completely passed me by. I imagine that with the body scanners, patients can be fully clothed and then see the scan image as a 3D picture that shows size alone. So I'd definitely be open to participating in something like that.